Eagle Village's satellite supporting adoptive families

February 13, 2002|By Michael Jones

Steve Wheeler, adoption program manager at Eagle Village in Hersey, said the program, called Post Adoption Support Services (PASS) will provide assistance to adoptive families in 21 northern Michigan counties through its satellite office in Gaylord. "Our contract for PASS covers a 39-county area, with our Gaylord office serving counties from Cadillac, north to the Mackinac Bridge." The Gaylord office is located at 111 S. Court Ave. suite 2000.

The three-year contract, which began offering services to families Oct. 1, is aimed at offering assistance to adoptive families through crisis stabilization services, referral information, coordination of community services, and training and support services.

Oct. 1 also marked the day PASS coordinator Shirlee Schulz came on board at the Gaylord North office to begin providing services to adoptive families to the 21 northern Michigan counties. Being responsible for such a large coverage area keeps Schulz on the go and on the road quite a bit of the time.

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"Last week I was down in Manistee County, which is about as far away as you can get from Gaylord, working with a family. You go where the need is," said Schulz, who had previously worked in foster care in Chicago before taking on duties of PASS coordinator at the Gaylord office.

Although the program is available to any adoptive family, Wheeler said services are targeted at families in the region with children who have been involved with state foster care services prior to adoption. "As part of our contract we are able to provide a full range of services to those families who meet or fall under the category of subsidy cases, which means they have usually had some involvement with foster care for reasons of abuse or neglect in the parental home situation" said Wheeler, who noted PASS can also provide limited services to non-subsidy cases.

Wheeler stressed PASS is not intended to supplant or duplicate existing programs but to help coordinate community services and make referrals to area agencies when appropriate. "We act as a source for referrals and inform adoptive families of services available to them. We are also here to assist families who may need help in applying for services or who may be eligible for a medical subsidy; we can work with them to help determine if they meet guidelines or qualify for these services."

While providing referral information as the primary service of PASS Wheeler said crisis stabilization services are also a key component of the program. "When a family is in crisis we respond by going directly to the home and working with the family to help them and assess the situation. Our goal is short term in nature and once the initial crisis has been dealt with we make the necessary referrals if needed."

Another unique service PASS makes available to adoptive families in northern Michigan is to provide training and support activities. Trainings can range from making workshops available on specific topics like fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). "We can target specific behaviors we may see in adoptive children and offer tailor-made training to meet those specific needs," said Wheeler, who also explained PASS can help to assist communities to develop support groups for adoptive families or offer support to existing support groups.

Support activities are intended to give families unique recreational opportunities several times a year. "We are working on putting together a winter sports activity for families, weather permitting," said Wheeler. "We try to arrange activities which will be affordable for families to participate in, whether this includes the whole family or just the children. Right now we're excited about a summer camping program we are putting together."

As any child goes through the various developmental stages of childhood there are always going to be some bumps in the road along the way. Wheeler said, "I see PASS as principally providing services aimed at families, especially during those transition times. Adolescence can be a particularly trying time, especially for adopted children. We're here to help parents understand what may be going on with their child and offer the necessary support."

Although the total number of adoptive families in northern Michigan is hard to pin down, Wheeler said they do have statistics on the number of subsidy families in the area. According to Wheeler in the eight counties closest to the Gaylord North offices - Otsego, Montmorency, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska Antrim, and Cheboygan - there are around 327 adoptive families identified as subsidy families eligible for the full range of services offered by PASS.

"Out of our Gaylord office we also provide a foster care component and adoption services for families who are going through the process of adoption. Right now we have 6 licensed foster homes in Otsego County and nine children in foster care," said Wheeler.